Returning player wanting to discuss the overall game and what keeps it interesting with others

Hello! I started playing GW2 in 2012 when my college roommate showed it to me. For a long time now, I have bounced between it and other mmos. I am returning to the game once again, but would like to have a discussion with other players that are most likely more dedicated to the game than I am. I really would love to hear your honest opinions on the things that I present below. I do not ask them to stir up drama, or bash anyone. I just genuinely want to know how I can truly come to enjoy and call GW2 my "main" mmo. Insight from others would help.

So I want to start by laying out some talking points of things I enjoy in GW2.

Combat - This seems to be a general consensus among GW2 players. I thoroughly enjoy the combat in this game. I love that you usually aren't standing in place, casting a 2 second skill over and over. Usually you are running and casting, while trying to dodge attacks. It seems very engaging. This is the main reason I come back to GW2 over time. I don't usually feel like I am attacking a meat shield NPC. It feels like my skills actually do damage. (for example, doing a bursty attack on a mob and seeing their hp melt is great in this game... But trying to do a bursty attack in eso feels lackluster).

Raid Mechanics - I'll admit, I have only beaten around 6 raid bosses. But they are very fun to me. All of them have a different feel.

PVP - I SUCK at it, but it is fun. It ties in generally with my fondness of the combat in general, but I love that you have to play smart and know your class somewhat. I've definitely tried choosing the flavor of the month (like an engineer) and getting easy wins... Only to fail miserably because I didn't understand the class at all.

Now, on to the part where I really want to hear what others think. I have noticed a few things in GW2 that really drive me away from the game.

Respect of Players Time - This can be seen two ways. On one hand, I love that you an always come back to the game and never feel like you need to catch up with gear score. But aside from that, I've noticed that a lot of things in game appear to be huge time sinks and almost unrealistic. To name a few things: Acquiring mounts like the Skyscale, making gold, acquiring ascended and legendary armor, and collections in general. Now, I'm not saying I want a full set of legendary gear within two days of playing. But I had been steadily attempting the spvp route for a few seasons now and it still isn't done. (Granted im bad at pvp). The last time I played, I had nearly enough currency to get 5 pieces finally, BUT gold become the stopping force at that point. I looked and had about 150 gold. And according to calculators online it takes around 500g per piece of gear. It completely discouraged me from my goal because I knew it meant running SW laps for weeks. Anyway, overall do you guys feel like some of the things we work for in game are just drawn out too much, or is it just me? Even getting the skyscale was insane (compared to any other mount acquisition in other mmos).

Barrier to Entry on Raids - This isn't inherently due to GW2 as a game. But before I started the pvp route for legendary gear, I was all set to try for the raid set since I generally enjoy pve more than pvp. But two problems always seem to arise. One being that groups wanted people that already had clears or has 500 LI. Understandable if you are wanting a fast run. I get that. But I always felt like there were no good ways for players wanting to raid to learn. This could be a minor issue that only I notice. But it just seems a lot harder to hop into a raid in this game as opposed to WoW.

Economy - Imo the economy is kitten. The best way to make gold is to use your credit card. While you can always say "But it doesn't effect you. Just go make gold in game". This is true. I get that, I do. But at the same time, it does put certain players at an advantage over others. Last time I played, one of my guildies had around 11 legendaries in the game. We were discussing how he managed to get them so easily and he outright said that he spent around $4k on gold selling sites over time. When I heard that, I instantly felt discouraged to play the game. Not really because he paid to win.. But because I realized that it really is the only reasonable way. I have Nevermore as my only legendary in the game and I adore it. I would love to get another, or the armor, but when I think about how much time goes into it... I just don't have the time sadly. Time is a resource just as much as money. Now, I do work on the goals SLOWLY over time like the pvp leg armor. But it's years in the making.
Gold seems nearly impossible to make in this game in a reasonable time frame. I feel like this is done intentionally so that people DO use the gem conversion. More money for GW2. A valid method for a B2P game, but I would much rather pay a sub and have the feeling that my time isn't wasted in game.
Also, from what I remember, crafting seemed pretty meh in GW2. I would love to be a master crafter and sell goods for profit. But generally it seemed like I was always better off selling the raw mats since the markets are weird. And again, this is because of players and prices, not GW2 inherently.

Gem Shop - I know it is all cosmetic/unnecessary things which is good! I get that. BUT for players that want to really play, a lot of the things are ALMOST required like inventory slots, bags, character slots, and bank space. I have been playing for almost 7 years and have 3 bank tabs. And they are always full. Just bums me out a little. I wish core game things werent behind a paywall like inventory and banks. WoW doesn't have this issue (but I know WoW is sub and that's why they can do it that way). I guess I just wish GW2 had rolled out as a sub model. Not sure. As for the cosmetics, those are a big deal in most games. Gotta look good to play good. But I feel like a vast majority of the cool designs can only be bought in the shop. I generally try to make my characters look cool from items in game through collections, but they don't really compare. Again, it's not needed.. But it always deters me in some way.

Boredom - At some point I always get bored and quit. There are tons of raids I haven't done and would love to do, but it's like the whole "You need 8 years job experience for this entry level job" sort of deal. I definitely understand that you have to set your own goals in this game, but for me, a lot of the goals are MASSIVE goals that seem so far away. That just discourages me from putting more time into it. It comes back to the respect for time thing I suppose.

So, vet players, hardcores, or those that are genuinely dedicated to the game, I simply ask for your opinions on a few of the topics I've touched on. Do you guys just sink tons of time into the game? Tons of IRL money? What keeps you going? I genuinely do love this game, but it just is missing a few pieces that really keep me here. And I know it probably stems from it not having a sub model. So I get why.. But I just want opinions I suppose.

Thanks ahead of time. And again, I don't mean this as a bashing post.

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Comments

Respecting Players Time. I think GW2 excels at respecting players time in general. Recently however, I've been thinking that it does so actually to the games detriment. A recent article where Mike Z was talking about many different things going forward including the idea of adding more repeatable and farmable content. I would see that as a great boon to the game, as much of it is very one-and-done type achievements and goals.

Barrier to entry on Raids. Try to see if you can find a guild that can ease new players into doing raid training and similar content. I'm part of a guild that is very good about this, and is extremely very helpful. It's much better and more reliable than doing pug raiding and you get much more understanding people who want you to succeed in the game. It just involves a little bit of "coming out of your shell" if you are a little bit of an introvert.

Economy. Unfortunately, I'll have to pass on this. I'm not a game economy expert in this game or any other for that matter. Even when I played old fashioned RuneScape my brother was way better at the economic and Trading Post section of that game. I play for content not for playing the market so it's not very easy for me to give any insights there.

Gem Store. Full disclosure: I have purchased a great deal from the gemstore over the years. This is the place where I feel like the game has been doing worse and worse over the years. For one thing they use artificial scarcity to encourage sales. They do not have a physical venue, and therefore do not have any reason to remove supplies from their digital shelves. If they so choose they could put everything out to be purchased at any time. They could still have rotating sales that match with a season like Halloween for example or Winter's day, that would be fine. But limiting what is available simply because they want to take it off the shelf so that it generates more hyped for the next time that it comes is a very ethically gray, if not outright antagonistic marketing scheme.

Boredom. As a result of the recent turmoil from the beginning of the year, content has slowed down significantly. What I ended up doing to entertain myself throughout most of the year was sticking to World vs World, where every battle whether one-on-one or X vs. Y numbers of people could have many different outcomes. It becomes more stale when you start to realize which builds are more overpowered or cheesy then the next ones. However, I maintain that PVP and World versus World are where you will find the most challenges in the game outside of raid and high-level fractals and I fully recommend spending time getting better at player combat.

Justin.5231, I am in same position as you right now. I have had the game since launch since I loved the first series of GW. But I have been off and on for few weeks to a few months at a time over the years. For myself though I didn't get involved in the raiding or dungeon aspect of this game compared to what I did with WoW. And just as you, paths needed to acquire the ascended, and legendary gear was a major turn off for me. I tried going for master crafting also and just couldn't finish it.

One other issue I didn't see you mention though, are the classes. Out of the nine possible I currently have five that are level 80 and one at level 66 and a couple of those were leveled with the scrolls from birthday gifts or ones from getting the expansions. So for me when coming back and then trying to stay, which class to play. Not knowing which classes are good vs bad for general PVE or fun vs boring. On a personal note, I have always wanted to make a warrior but just couldn't agree on a race.

Anyways I will keep an eye on this topic and see if others can have more input with this.

@Exiled.5781 , Classes are a love and hate with me. The hate only stems from the fact that I can rarely have one main since so many classes are appealing. I don't like the "meta" mentality that a lot of players have when it comes to builds in the game though. Mostly in regards to pve. I love healers for example, and have successfully healed a few raid bosses like Cairn with a revenant.. But good lord, I had to plead to them to just let me give it a shot. And it worked. People are just so into snowcrows and that other guild site and take their number crunching as holy scripture. Sorry, tangent lol. But yeah, class design is a pro for me overall. Some classes always seem super op like any bunker build in pvp and can be annoying with everyone having so much condi damage and cleanse.. But eh.

For the raids, there are guilds that do raid training. It doesn't guarantee a clear of course, since it's a training run, but it's a good way to learn. I don't know if you're EU or NA, but the NA guild I'm in does training runs a couple of times a week.

After all my years playing, I've only started on my first legendary. So I can't tell you much about it. The good? They're not required, so I've felt no obligation to get one. I just want Nevermore. lol Gold you can earn fairly easily. Run metas, Silverwastes, craft ascended mats and sell. Festivals are usually good too. If you jump into the Labyrinth, you can farm trick or treat bags and sell those right now. Do your Dailies... easy 2g per day. I think most of all don't be in a rush. I do a little on my legendary each day, then move on to something else. Otherwise it's just a grind.

Time: Well, it took me almost a year from the first time I crafted my first ascended armour to the time I finally finished crafting my first legendary armour. It is time consuming but I quite enjoy the process. The key is be patient and make a realistic goal.

Raid: Search for a raid training guild. That's what I did. It is more reliable than just joining LFG group titled 'training'.

Economy: Well, the way I see it at least the game gives you some options to obtain some nice stuffs. For example, Black Lion Keys. I just can't be bothered farming the key by farming low-level story over and over again; might as well buy gems to buy keys. On the other hand, I don't mind crafting a legendary weapon from scratch because I find it quite fun. I am not a big fan of farming gold like SW or Istan; majority of my gold is a mix from doing meta, fractal, dungeon, raid, etc. Maybe I don't earn ton of money, but enough to let me get many nice stuffs within reasonable time.

Gem Store: IMO, gears from gem store can be overrated (not always, ofc. I own few gears from gem store as well). Sometimes, they can look too much and I do not find it appealing. 95% of my gears are not from gem store and I am quite happy the way they look. It also reduces the chance of having similar look with other players!

Boredom: I get bored from time to time but because there are so many goals that I have not achieved, It makes me want to play again the next day. I have 9 characters for each profession and I'd say I enjoy half of them. So, If I get bored playing one class, I can easily play another character to mix it up a little.